Return of Baseball in Salem and Pulaski

Salem Sox

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WHAT TO EXPECT IN BASEBALL 2021

By Doug Doughty

The (sort of) post-COVID local baseball world will look a lot different as the season gets underway.

Southwest Virginia baseball fans would be surprised to hear that realignment of the Carolina League had nothing to do with COVID-19. The 2020 schedule was postponed by the coronavirus but plans already were in place, part of a plan by Major League Baseball to shrink and realign the minor league development system.

"We're in what's now referred to as the Low A East League," said Allen Lawrence, general manager of the Boston Red Sox affiliate in Salem. "It's kind of a combination of the old Carolina League and the old South Atlantic League."

At the time of an April 5 interview, Lawrence's impression was that there will be 12 teams split into three divisions—north, central and south—with the season beginning May 11. "There's going to be limited travel between the three divisions," he noted. "We're primarily playing teams in the north." That would be Lynchburg, Fredericksburg and Delmarva.

Salem previously had played a High-A schedule, a notch above what the Red Sox will be playing this year, but it will be difficult to tell the difference. "Some people have looked at it as a demotion when we moved from High-A to Low-A," Lawrence said in an interview at his Salem Memorial Ballpark office. "That couldn't be further from the case. "Yes, we went down a level, but in terms of the players and the talent we'll see come through here, look at the great players we've had come through here already that are playing in the big leagues.”

After all notes Lawrence, “they also played at Low-A. We're just a [different] rung on the ladder - now we're the first rung instead of the second rung. In many cases with some of the great names we've had come through

here, they've actually spent more time in Low-A than they have in High-A. When they get to High-A, the progression to the big leagues actually speeds up a little bit. We might see them a little bit longer than we did before." In essence Greenville, TN (now Advanced-A) and Salem flipped their stations in the Boston Red Sox system.

COVID restrictions will limit interaction between the fans and players. At least at the beginning, players won't be able to sign autographs at field level and mingle with the players. but that could change. Until then, the field will be a "bubble,” all its own.

"2020 was a tough year," Lawrence said. "No question about it we've been pushing forward the whole time; we were optimistic all of last year that we were going to play baseball. We never stopped prepping for 2020. We got the news only a couple of hours before it was released to the world. We didn't have any inside information that somebody else had access to. We were pushing along the whole time. We had a lot of events at the ballpark. We had a lot of great support from the community, and we certainly tried to give back in terms of front-line workers and raising money for local non-profits. That's how we stayed busy."

Word that the 2020 season was going to be cancelled didn't come till July 30. The Red Sox office had found out March 12 that the season was going to be delayed and thought that Salem's first homestand might be pushed back. "When it became clear that we wouldn't be playing in April, we were like, 'OK, let's get ready for May,'” Lawrence said. "Then, we were certain we'd be playing July 4th. That was the rumor going around minor league baseball." So much for that.

As the major leagues got under way, preparations for the Carolina League season have not been overlooked. There will be a 120-game schedule for Low A East teams including the Salem Red Sox, featuring 60 home games. As of the first week in April, Lawrence was looking at a state-mandated 30 percent capacity limit, amounting to 1,900 people at Salem Memorial Ballpark, including an uncertain number of seasonticket holders. "Right now, we're trying to place our season ticket-holders and anybody with a ticket plan before we open it up to anyone else," he said in an April 5 interview.

"Everybody is going to be seated in pods of between one and eight depending on how

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Allen Lawrence

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many pods you have in your package and what the case might be. Those pods will be spaced out at least six feet apart and, as of now, everyone in the ballpark will be required to wear a mask. That's a majorleague baseball rule. That's not our rule. I'm not looking forward to policing that, but right now, it is necessary for us to play baseball. Wearing a mask beats the heck out of the alternative, which is not playing baseball."

As far as amenities go, Lawrence also points out that the Red Sox home schedule does not conflict with the Salem Fair, which historically presented conflicts, mostly with parking. "That has been challenging, to say the least," noted Lawrence. Carolina League franchises have been accustomed to 140 games, including 70 as home. "I think, with all that being said, these 60 games that we have scheduled for this year is probably the best schedule that I can remember in my 20 years," Lawrence said. “We’re not playing in April, when it can be cold. We're trading out some cold April days for some warmer days in September because the season is going to be extended three weeks."

At least they hope so.

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SPORTS FRONT BIG CHANGES DOWN THE ROAD IN PULASKI AS WELL

Approximately 50 miles down the road from Salem is historic Calfee Park in Pulaski, home to a longtime Class A farm team that most recently was affiliated with the New York Yankees in the Appalachian League. There, a new business model of sorts is in the works for the 2021 season. Like in Salem, Pulaski did not field a team in 2020 due to the pandemic.

A new name has followed a change in affiliation for Pulaski, now known as the Pulaski River Turtles in a clear reference to the New River that meanders through southwestern Virginia.

There will be an Appalachian League again this summer; however, it will now be an amateur circuit comprised of collegiate players taking the field at a 3,200-seat stadium that has been rated No. 1 at its level by Ballpark Digest and Best of Ballparks. Major League Baseball shed about 40 minor league teams and folded several circuits (like the Carolina League) after 2020 in large part as a cost-cutting move.

It will be a wood-bat league that is targeting the nation's top 300 available collegians. "We're told that this is going to be a really talented group of rising freshmen and sophomores," first-year general manager JW Martin said. "Based on what we're seeing trickle out, that's likely to be the case." Some of the national powers said to be sending players to the Appalachian League are TCU, UCLA and Vanderbilt.

"I feel the on-field talent should be just as good if not better," [as Advanced Rookie League was Pulaski was] Martin noted. "Major League baseball tells us that, over time, more athletes could graduate to the majors from this league than there were under the previous structure of the Appalachian League. There's a lot of reason for optimism."

Pulaski's new manager this year is Matt Crist, the shortstop on the University of Arizona team that won the 1980 College World Series. He spent four seasons in the minor leagues before going the coach-scout route. He was involved in the scouting of such recognizable pros as Albert Pujols and Kenny Lofton. Player selection for the River Turtles was still in the works as of in late April. "USA Baseball is working to recruit the athletes," Martin said. "It's a process and I don't know what that process entails. We've been told there might be a draft but we're not quite sure what that will look like or whether it will be this season or not."

Martin, previously in the auto-racing business, is the new general manager, taking over from Betsy Haugh, who is now with the United Soccer League as its Director of Women’s Soccer Operations. With the Pulaski Yankees in 2018 she was named the Rawlings Woman Executive of the Year. The season is slated to start June 5-6 against Princeton, W.Va. Other teams in the league are from Burlington, N.C.;

"I've been working here for a couple of seasons dating back to 2015, when our organization took over the ballpark," Martin said. "Every game night, I served in a game day role in 2018 and 2019. So, I do have some experience here at Calfee Park." David Hagan (the Shelor auto dealerships) is the owner.

Martin is from Marion and went to college at Radford, graduating in 2009. "There's a lot of enthusiasm," he said. "I can't speak for the fan-base in general but here in Pulaski, I feel our community has responded. Season ticket sales are going very well, the boxes that we rent out every year are tracking 2019 numbers. The response so far has been overwhelmingly positive."

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I'd probably have 10 different restaurants with 10 different concepts, that's how much I love it. — Page 22 ”“

P.O. Box 1041 Salem, VA 24153